How can those who crafted the status quo position themselves as the voices of reform, Hunter asked. He related a meeting in which House Speaker Frank Chopp "excoriated King County over the cost of delivering services."

"If you can get more efficient government, you'll get help from the Legislature," added Hunter, a former Microsoft manager and the state legislator least likely to be described as a shrinking violet.

A combative Larry Phillips returned the salvo two days later.

"It's easy to sit outside and take potshots," Phillips said over lunch. "The reason the county general fund is in trouble is the constraints that the Legislature places on us."

He explained that Olympia mandates that the county provide services, but then limits its prime revenue source -- the property tax. "Why can't we have the means to pay for what we provide?" Phillips asked.

If Olympia wants to take the costs of county government services to the Chopp shop, Phillips concluded, "The Legislature should change the collective bargaining laws of the state under which we operate."

Hunter, Phillips, State Sen. Fred Jarrett, an Constantine are booked for an early evening debate on Tuesday, May 5, at the Carpenters Hall in Renton.

Former KIRO-TV anchor Susan Hutchison has kept a low profile so far. She is, however, taking fire from liberal bloggers and underground newspaper writers for the twin sins of giving money to Republican candidates and past service on the board of the Discovery Institute.

Phillips and Constantine had a head start in the race. Phillips has crossed the $250,000 fundraising threshold, albeit with a healthy infusion of cash from his county council campaign fund.

Constantine has boasted the contest's best fundraiser, being feted recently by musicians at the Crocodile Cafe. He has also taken up the cost of county services, arguing in a recent interview: "We do not have a revenue problem. We have an efficiency problem"

Jarrett, a former Mercer Island mayor and Republican-turned-Democrat, has pointed out that Seattle politicians have headed King County government for nearly three decades. He, too, argues that the county "needs to find a way to cut overhead."

King County is a big populous place. Its population is larger than that of a dozen states. The county includes 39 cities, but also farms, forests, glaciers and wilderness areas beyond its urban growth boundary.

Phillips notes that a host of cities, from Sammamish to Sea-Tac and Federal Way, have come into existence during his tenure on the King County Council. "We have transitioned the county away from urban service," he said.

The county still has 10 very urban "pockets" surrounded by cities, the best known being the Highline area between Burien and Seattle.

And even after anticipated urban consolidation, 225,000 people will still live outside city boundaries and count on the county for services.

A trio of county executives -- John Spellman and Gary Locke from King County, and Booth Gardner from Pierce County -- have successfully advanced to the governorship in the last 30 years.

Some issues that will challenge the new county executive have been around even longer, as Phillips noted over lunch.

"The effort to get light rail has gone on for 40 years, since the Metro elections when I was a 19 year-old kid," he noted.It'll be more than half-a-century by the time present plans are completed.